J: Stemma in Facundus Beatus

Notes

Madrid, Spain, BNE, VITR/14/2, fols. 10v-17r

Seven full-page spreads, in Visigothic script in colored ink with illuminations, parchment, 36 x 26.8 cm (Diego Garcia).

Belongs to the far evolved 14-page Beta type, and therefore relatively uninformative about the original form.

Given siglum J by Neuss.

The codex

312 folios, 2 columns per page, with 98 miniatures.

Made in the royal scriptorium at León; its scribe Facundus identifies himself (Facundus scripsit), hence its name; also known as the Códice de Fernando I y Dña. Sancha; dated on folio 316 to the year 1047 (Era bis quadragies et V post millessima).

Previous ownership: Made for King Fernando I and Queen Sancha of Castille and León. Seized by King Philip V of Spain at the end of the 17th century and delivered to the Royal Library in Madrid, now the National Library of Spain (BNE).

The rest of the codex contains the Commentary on Revelation by Beatus of Liébana. In addition, a second copy of the Great Stemma at folios 1-5 (listed below) was later bound into the codex.

Related (Beta Recension)

M: New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, M. 644, Morgan Beatus

Fi: Spain, Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional de España, VITR/14/2, Fragment Vitr. 14-2. Its origin is debated. The National Library of Spain cataloguer considers that these folios were torn from the Beatus of Valcavado, in Valladolid, Biblioteca de Santa Cruz, 433, but this has been challenged.

Áv: Spain, Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional de España, VITR/15/1, Ávila Bible

Le: Spain, León, Colegiata S. Isidoro, cod 2, Codex Gothicus Legionensis, from which PROL gen L in Fischer's collation of the Great Stemma derives. Fischer describes it thus: 517 ff; 47 x 34.5 cm; 2 Kolumnen zu 51 Zeilen; wisigothische Schrift; zahlreiche Miniaturen. Die Hs wurde im Jahre 960 von einem Presbyter Sancho in Valeranica (Barilangas bei Burgos) geschrieben. Beuron No. 91.

Le2: Spain, León, Colegiata S. Isidoro, Cod. I.3, the Second León Bible in three illuminated volumes. Copied in 1162 in S. Isidoro from the Codex Gothicus Legionensis with only minor changes.

Bibliography

Neuss, W. Die Apokalyse des Hl. Johannes in deraltspanischen Bibel-Illustration (Das Problem der Beatus-Handschriften). Münster: 1931

Załuska, Yolanta. “Les Feuillets Liminaires.” In El Beato de Saint-Sever, Ms. Lat. 8878 de La Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris, edited by Xavier Barral i Altet. Madrid [Spain]: Edílan, 1984.

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The Great Stemma: A Graphic History in the Fifth Century by Jean-Baptiste Piggin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.